rapiers, weapons, et al.

Is the variance in forged weapons an enjoyable feature for the game? Should we balance combat around amazing weapons? There is no doubt that this randomness is a gambling feature that, combined with a hammer of forging and time, can end up being a very profitable venture for those who undertake it.

If it is an issue, how do we address it? Would static weapon stats improve or worsen the quality of combat? How can we keep Phaestus happy?

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to any weaponized combat (Blademaster/Monk ho!) but I'd suggest a bit more of a 'baseline' for weapons? Hammer of Forging would increase it or make the randomness factor a bit more positive, but altogether you shouldn't NEED to sit there and forge for two weeks and burn through three hundred thousand gold to get a set of combat-ready rapiers.

Feel free to spear the hell out of this if I'm wrong/mis-informed/idiotic/whatever. Like I said, weaponry is not a very familiar topic with me.

Nellaundra, that is nothing, I've forged around 60k rapiers, that is without smelting in 27300000 gold, gold and in forging time around 90 days of played time. So that small amount your talking about and that small amount of time is nothing and if you want combat-ready rapiers you talk about 235+ speed? Cause those I get a few every week.

There is no question that there will always be individuals who enjoy gambling for amazing rapiers and even more who don't but are willing to fork out even more money by paying the gamblers. I believe the market for quality forged goods is lucrative enough to sustain and profit forgers, so taking that away removes diversity in Achaean economy and that wouldn't be a good idea.

On the other hand, combat has always been about speed. This places an unbalanced bias towards the fastest forged weapon useable by the classes which depend on them for combat. Offering alternatives is sketchy because in the world of pvp, 2nd best is not viable. An alternative for rapiers needs to be viable without obsoleting them.

Nellaundra, that is nothing, I've forged around 60k rapiers, that is without smelting in 27300000 gold, gold and in forging time around 90 days of played time. So that small amount your talking about and that small amount of time is nothing and if you want combat-ready rapiers you talk about 235+ speed? Cause those I get a few every week.

Are you sure about that number, Salik? As a heads up, that's 4550 credits.

Nellaundra, that is nothing, I've forged around 60k rapiers, that is without smelting in 27300000 gold, gold and in forging time around 90 days of played time. So that small amount your talking about and that small amount of time is nothing and if you want combat-ready rapiers you talk about 235+ speed? Cause those I get a few every week.

Are you sure about that number, Salik? As a heads up, that's 4550 credits.

yeah I know, but then add that you smelt rapiers for 2 steel per and reforge so it's allot less, then add in all credits I've spent on steel, all rapiers I've sold for over 100-300 credits per to just buy steel with. Add in every gold I earned IG going towards steel. so I know how much that is

Back in my day, Bulvai was RSLing for 40% of my max health through old putrefaction (45% cutting resist) and Slok was one-shotting me with a double hugalaz on Logosian battleaxes. This was real DSL damage. I spent the majority of every fight with these guys at hovering between 200 health and whatever my sip/moss/vigour added, and praying hugalaz didn't trigger. Health in yellow was a sigh of relief, green was unheard of.

Back in my day, Bulvai was RSLing for 40% of my max health through old putrefaction (45% cutting resist) and Slok was one-shotting me with a double hugalaz on Logosian battleaxes. This was real DSL damage. I spent the majority of every fight with these guys at hovering between 200 health and whatever my sip/moss/vigour added, and praying hugalaz didn't trigger. Health in yellow was a sigh of relief, green was unheard of.

That being said, I have nothing to contribute to the topic.

I remember an old quote from the old forums, paraphrased: "How to win: Go troll, get double hugalaz axes, tape down F1 key, win in Achaea."

There is a Sapience Today issue that has all these Achaean cheat codes in them.

On topic, the randomness is actually a complete screwup. Because of it Forging is not really profitable and also because of it, hideously overpowered weapons can emerge. Now while you should be rewarded for spending 4600 credits on forging godly rapiers, I think the short term solution would be to hard cap the speed stat on rapiers. Say 240. That would include the speed rune. So if you rune a 230 you would get 240, but if you rune a 235, you would still get a 240.

However if you forge a 245, you get a 245. So if you want to spend half your childhood and enough gold to buy Ashtan you can have weapons over 240. Runes just won't end up making them even more insane.

both forged and artefact weapons are outdated. Most artefact weapons are useless, especially the level 1s and 2s. And you can forge comparable (even superior in some cases) ones given enough time. If they standardized all forged weapons to the level 2 weapons then added the equivalent of knuckles/band/collar/dirks for knights then it would make sense.

Back in my day, Bulvai was RSLing for 40% of my max health through old putrefaction (45% cutting resist) and Slok was one-shotting me with a double hugalaz on Logosian battleaxes. This was real DSL damage. I spent the majority of every fight with these guys at hovering between 200 health and whatever my sip/moss/vigour added, and praying hugalaz didn't trigger. Health in yellow was a sigh of relief, green was unheard of.

That being said, I have nothing to contribute to the topic.

Unrelated, back in the day I sold Bulvai a 243 speed rapier, along with a 212 damage battleaxe.

This whole topic is a waste of time. You're burning down a forest to prevent kittens from being stuck in trees.

Remember that weaponry across the board has remained the same, and suddenly problems arose. Standardizing weaponry across the board fails to address the problem that was created alongside the Trait system. Previously, our fastest knights had the balancing factor of having 10/11 strength as base.

@Mizik your argument would be valid except we're (or maybe just me) talking about speed not damage. The increase in damage from traits as you've explained is largely counteracted by the elimination of sip penalties and higher base health across the board.

@Salik I know I mentioned your name at the start of this thread but that was tongue in cheek. My intention was never about specifics but to pick the minds of Achaeans to find a solution or perhaps a comprehensive rebuttal to the topic at hand. Now we know that the admin have already planned for an overhaul of weaponry in general, and I hope they have a good representation of the current situation via this thread from which to make their decisions.